It is well known in the art to form a wide web from much narrower web material through the use of a layering, cross-lapping process wherein the cross-lapping is done by a roll system travelling back and forth at right angles across a moveable belt which conveys the cross-lapped layered web to a downstream work location whereat the cross layered web material is needle punched or otherwise secured together to form an integral web. As the rolls of such systems reach the end of their travel relative to the web conveyor, the web material is dropped to form a fold and the rolls reverse direction to bring the web material to the opposite edge of the conveyor belt whereat roll travel is again reversed and another fold is dropped onto the belt. So that the final web has a uniform width and even edge it is necessary that the folds be neatly disposed in a straight line and it has been the practice to station an operator at each side of the conveyor belt to manually manipulate the folds and straighten them out. This is not only an extremely boring activity for the operators, but it also makes manufacturing processes of this type relatively labor intensive.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system for forming a layered, cross-lapped web from web material of the general afore-described type wherein proper positioning of the folds is accomplished by inducing a suction against the web material to position the folds at the desired locations on the conveyor belt and in a desired orientation relative to the direction of movement of the conveyor belt.